The Great Workplace 2.0. The New Model of Great Places To WorkBy Admin

June 3, 2010

“The Great Workplace 2.0” is an ongoing research and discovery project that has encompassed over 500 interviews of CEO’s, Corporate Managers, Innovators, Business and Social Entrepreneurs, the compilation of over 150 recently published books on business management for the new economy and over 100 “White papers” published by the most prestigious business consulting firms.

The “Old Model” of the characteristics of what makes up a Great Workplace (Productive Organization)/ Great Place to Work as has been celebrated by many associations, award-centric organizations and those selling insurances or other products to LARGER companies/ organizations, simply is no longer a benchmark that NEW, smaller and medium-sized organizations (where the jobs are and are created) can identify with, nor need to emulate.Much of what organizations seem to want to celebrate is how they fete “Top Talent”, with little mention of how the company foundation, for the customer, is built. It seems that “Top Talent” will find a way to bring their magic to customer. The Great Workplace 2.0 (They are real, not theory) will create an entire COMMUNITY to support their purpose for the customer, not just build itself around a few individuals. The time of GREAT TALENT will always be today, but it will not necessarily subjugate the organization and purpose to a few people. It definitely won’t ever allow (again) a “Fabulous Fab” anywhere near their open environment.

It is a given that our new economy is based upon new places to work, new technologies, shifts in current technologies, and shifts in how workplaces are organized. As the new economy emerges, those changes will become more evident and their fundamental principles will begin to be more “Public”. People have changed. The very nature of work: who does it, where and why…has changed dramatically, and with that…the definition of “Great Workplace” has been forever moved to a new matrix. This expose’ is deigned to give organization managers, entrepreneurs, Human Resource professionals and career-focused individuals a look underneath the hood into the engines driving their futures.

Excerpts from the Book: The Great Workplace 2.0™:

A Great Workplace functions at a higher level of purpose and productivity and is a more interesting place to work than other “normal” organizations. It attracts great talent and it attracts great results…for the customer. It extends its intelligent self-interests beyond the executive suite into the depths of its own employment, into the rich treasure troves of vendor knowledge, the community and to all “Participants”. It reaches out to the crowd within its community for opportunities and solutions.

The Great Workplace 2.0 understands intrinsically that being “open” is an advantage. When it reaches, it extends its hand in a positive manner both internally and externally looking for strengths and sustainable principles on which to further grow the business and the opportunities for participants. It simply does not adhere to the old model of corporate hierarchy and held power.

The Great Workplace of today invites being bench marked, but is always one step beyond being so static that its definitions are fluid. The Great Workplace 2.0 is in fact a fluid community. It interacts with its participants and creates communication avenues that foster the immediate interaction of questions, ideas, opinions and therefore opportunities and solutions. It has substantially removed the obstacles to Open Innovation and discouraged most linear or legacy ideals. It uses knowledge gained through more “open-invitation” processes and feeds upon the rich knowledge and input from all sources that touch the organization. It is both created on and by purpose and has the ability to change its tactical or strategic directions quickly.

The corporate legacy model focused upon impressive-sounding “Mission Statements” and “shareholder return” (regardless of what that meant). In many circumstances, businesses were operated not because they really wanted to, but because they “should”. They sustained themselves because there were stock certificates to support.

That old model was built upon relative size and the ability to do things for ITSELF on a grand scale: benefits, bonuses, unions, giveaways, charitable donations, dividends and having employees see their company in print or in TV ads. If you work for Shell Oil or for General Motors you must work for a great company. We feted big companies as “great” workplaces because they flowed forth with great benefits, nominally gave away their services as charity and in general treated employees as cats in Pharaoh’s chambers. Just the mention of “I work for National City Bank” meant something impressive. It was akin to saying that you attended Notre Dame while the Fighting Irish were a national football powerhouse. The “aura” was the value.

The old model created strong Tribes and the reputation of that Tribe became the recipient of all things corporate. But while employers reveled in being big and powerful, the very nature of WORK, who does it, where, why and with whom has been changing dramatically and forever.The “Social Contract” with employers and workers has changed. The “workplace” is no longer just hired employees and employer. It is no longer a space confined to a legacy corporate structure. And that has dramatically changed the way people and executives look at Great Places To Work, and in turn Great Workplaces. The focus, in a highly productive company, has shifted to PURPOSE: both from an individual point of view and a “corporate viewpoint”. Walls and structures are coming down or are being made visible. Old lines of communications (Such as “Command and Control”) have been amended and the concept of “New Ideas” is no longer just defined as internal.

“Teamwork” is now more important than ever, but only when it has “Collaboration” at its foundation. “Teamwork” can be interpreted as a group of similarly trained or deployed people working for a single mission (Basketball Players: A linear orientation). “Collaboration” is geared toward having disparate talents working for a single outcome (even from different geographies), through different purposes (ex: the entire organization including the players: Non-linear input).

The core issue may be that we are still celebrating and making plans around the old model of great workplaces while the revolution representing what makes a Great Workplace / Great Place to Work has been quietly stealing our best people, their minds and talents, and vendors, just like John Galt in Ayn Rand’s “Atlas Shrugged”.

The purpose of The Great Workplace 2.0 ™ is simple: WHILE IT IS HAPPENING, show what core changes there are in Great Workplaces so that start-ups, small and mid-size companies can extract the principles that companies are discovering and by example, grow in a healthy and sustainable fashion and return to our economy great dividends in revenue, value, innovations and sustainability.

The big companies will get bailouts (ever hear of a $10 million ASV company getting a federal bailout in 2009 or 2010?) and due to having created market niches for certain products (Jet Engines, Gasoline, Money/Branded Banks, Hospitals) will continue to survive. They will provide workplaces for people who want “big”, who want to work for “Mom”. There is ABSOLUTELY NOTHING WRONG WITH A BIG Great Workplace. Our work will show what is happening in and could be happening in the companies that employ 95% of our workers (smaller companies) and create new jobs and businesses that aren’t in the news or on TV: The Great Workplace 2.0. This document is a fluid expose’ on the topic, as the concept of employment and what makes The Great Workplace has now taken on the characteristic of morphing at “The Speed Of Thought”.

The Fundamental Attributes of The Great Workplace 2.0: (Before we dive into each attribute, it needs to be noted that to be a Great Workplace/ Place to Work, an organization does NOT have to have each characteristic at equal levels. Based upon the nature of the organization, the products or services it offers, and the reason for the organization’s existence, the levels of these attributes can be different from one organization to another.)

Each attribute has deep explanatory sections to it, to further emphasize the Why and How. In the end, it may seem that there are at least 50 components to The Great Workplace 2.0, but our focus will be on the few that make the majority of the difference. We have looked at the fundamental components of The Great Workplace as “Acquirable and Repeatable”: Principles and actions that can be built into a new company or that can be achieved by an existing company.

The organization has a meaningful “Corporate Statement Of Purpose” that is the foundation for corporate culture and therefore provides meaning to employment and work opportunities. This statement is driven by the affects the organization has on their customers and the role each “Participant” can play in that directive. “Purpose” becomes an ethos that creates the very foundation for The Great Workplace.

A Great Workplace is committed to fostering a collaborative, productive, engaging and rewarding culture that encompasses customers, prospective employees, employees, vendors, “Participants” (Stake/ Shareholders) and the community. The organization practices collaboration to the extent that “Internal and External” no longer have a distinction, and it recognizes that “Community” has no true boundaries.

The organization provides for enterprise sustainability as part of their core culture and is committed to educating the employee body, vendors, participants, customers and the community about their practices. “Sustainability” is defined in flexible terms for Corporate Longevity (Think in terms of Japan’s “1,000 Years” philosophy), Ecology, Environment, Volunteerism, and Civic Engagement/ Charitable Offerings with the Community, Reputation, and Internships from the Community and Product Impact to future generations.

The Great Workplace has an operating plan to integrate Jobs, Careers, Participants and the Community in their (Organizational and Individual) pursuit of accomplishing their purpose. Intent or statements are not enough. This operating plan embraces the strategy and tactics of “Purposeful Convergence of Knowledge” where technology is employed, not for the sake of technology (which becomes a distraction) but for the customer, and where obstacles to the purpose can be eliminated or minimized.

The organization has a financial focus on being “Intelligently Profitable”. This qualitative focus is founded in sustainability, the Values within their purpose and a view of “Intelligent Self Interest”:{See the book “9 Principles for Inspired Action” (Finklestein/ Schepens)} for the organization and all participants. “Intelligent Self Interest” is defined as Self Interest that stands the test of “how will my plan affect others?” It defines who the customer REALLY is. The organization provides a sensible and tuned foundation of health and welfare benefits so that all employees can focus on their job purpose.

The organization has a working plan for Immersion (on boarding) of all Participants: (new employees, contractors, VENDORS, promotions, teams/ groups, community, board, executives, consultants and families). The purpose of this working structure is to reduce the time to productivity and to facilitate the complete engagement of the Participant throughout that participant’s “lifecycle”. The organization provides the Tools for all Participants to properly execute their responsibilities relative to their assignments and the organization’s Purpose.

The organization emphasizes buying locally and promotes its region as a great place to live and work.

This leadership preserves the integrity of the organization’s purpose, and is both duplicatable and repeatable…at any level. The ability of an organization to be “Great” should never rely solely upon being “Big” (Cash flow) or Rich. “Great” is a value, and VALUES can never be bought. Jim Collins in “Built To Last” defines it this way: “It is dedicated to the idea that true greatness comes in direct proportion to the passionate pursuit of a purpose beyond money”. One thing that all The Great Workplace 2.0 organizations have in common is this: They are in fact remarkable…worthy, noticeable and unique. Not because they have excessive benefits or bonuses or on-site daycare, or a slide that takes you to the ground floor, but because the entire organization has a purpose that is built around an ideal. And that ideal is for the customer.